Best of the Soup Junes

Going into The War Of The Worlds night 2 taping, I was aware that my pro wrestling viewing was going to take a drastic decline going into the summer, from the very next day even. But I've been finding ways to sneak it in. Not ideal viewing conditions and definitely not conducive to detailed reports, but enough to throw together some thoughts on recent New Japan Pro Wrestling programs. First, it is super cool that the New Japan World online streaming service has provided access to all of the Best Of The Super Juniors bouts, with big shows broadcast live and smaller road shows being chopped up so that only each match in the tournament itself are made available.

While I usually bang the koto drums for NJPW loud and hard over almost everything I take in, I was lukewarm about the tournament going into it and remained that way throughout most of it, until a fantastic final 2 shows, particularly the last day, which had incredible action from start to finish. I guess I associate Super Juniors, otherwise known as cruiserweights, with high levels of acrobatic ability. While not everyone needs to have an aerial based assault, it should be a prominent feature of the bulk of the matches. This distinguishes the division from the Heavyweights, in my view, rather than just putting them in one category for being 'smaller guys.'  KUSHIDA and Alex Shelley definitely count as two who can bring the high flying and grounded assault styles, but in an unfortunate turn, Shelley was injured in day 1, round 1 of the tournament, taking away a lot of the intrigue from the event on the whole.

Chase Owens represented NWA with his presence, and though lacking charisma, he did bring some interesting maneuvers. Though I can't say there was all that much variation throughout his matches. Ryusuke Taguchi seems a stalwart on the current NJPW 'Juniors scene. While he's had some impressive matches in the past, his recent comedy based oeuvre has failed to excite me all that much. David Finley and Yohei Komatsu represented rookies in the match who would not score any wins. In the case of Komatsu, it was a bit hard to perceive him as a Junior as he has been holding his own in the Heavyweight style of combat with young boy peer Sho Tanaka. Gedo was entered into the tournament after spending more time on the sidelines of Okada and behind the scenes of NJPW booking, perhaps feeling reinvigorated by his recent stint at the North American East Coast ROH shows, but his flexibility is limited, giving us spots involving sneaky tactics and punches and kicks, but few feats of agility. The Lucha style, probably the element I would consider most crucial to shaping a strong Super Junior competition, was represented by recent NJPW homestayer Mascara Dorada and visitor Barbaro Carvenario. Dorada's been solid throughout his stay but Cavernario's chemistry with others in the tournament was hit or miss.

Then there is the masked superhero veteran contingent - Liger and Tiger Mask, whose place in NJPW in general I am increasingly questioning. I am not sure what I see them adding to mix, as their abilities in the ring are diminishing and they really don't gel with stories being built around hip, modern characters in CHAOS or The Bullet Club. Liger is a legend and gets a pass to appear as long as he is able, but Tiger Mask...this being an incarnation of the original, and one who does not put much apparent effort into selling the staged combat between himself and who he is in the ring with, I don't see what he is adding to the promotion, and definitely did not see him bring any value to this tournament.  

Finally there were members of tag teams: RPG's Rocky Romero and Baretta, reDRagon's Fish and O'Reilly, and one Young Buck Nick Jackson. While all are very capable in the ring as a singles or tag team wrestler, being associated with a tag team would seem to automatically place one on a lower run than singles wrestlers. This in effect made the matches these guys were involved with feel as though they had far lesser stakes, even though these wrestlers were the one who, in many cases, led the way to entertaining matches. In the case of reDRagon, there was a break from this unwritten rule, as Kyle O'Reilly ended up being in the finals against shoe-in KUSHIDA. This came as a bit of a surprise, as many would've expected established singles wrestler Ryusuke Taguchi to be the other fighter in the finals. It was definitely the right move by many a fan's estimation, as O'Reilly is a lot more technically sound and can take the physicality of a match to the outer limits. Overall, reDRagon's involvement in the tournament was a huge boon. Fish also has a dynamic, versatile style that makes him a credible threat to anyone he is in the ring with. I very much hope the pair's performance in the 2015 BOSJ pushes them to bigger things.

As stated before, the final day of the tournament brought about the best in all of the combatants and seemed to be where the best potential matches were booked among the pack. Chase Owens generated some better than average heel heat by attacking Tiger Mask after their match. Cabernerio and Mascara Dorada seemed at complete ease with each other working a Lucha style match that had no lack in aggression whatsoever. Rocky Romero had a great match with Nick Jackson, which served to advance both an RPG-Young Bucks feud as well as a CHAOS-Bullet Club program. There is a spot where Romero hits Sliced Bread on Nick outside of the ring that needs to be witnessed.

The finale between KUSHIDA and O'Reilly, which KUSHIDA emerged from victorious, is instant end of the year top 10 New Japan match material. They had a lengthy battle in which limbs were put through the wringer. KUSHIDA executed a top rope maneuver to damage O'Reilly's arm, which seemed impossible to walk away from unscathed. O'Reilly dished out an onslaught that made KUSHIDA's victory seem like a distant possibility til he returned fire toward the end of the match. Only toward the end did Fish make his presence a factor, yelling at the referee over numerous calls in support of his tag team partner. The stage is set for KUSHIDA to bring a lot of momentum into his bout with Kenny Omega for the Junior Heavyweight Championship at Dominion on July 5th.

Another component of the big shows along the Best Of circuit was the continued battle between the NJPW brigade and CHAOS. On this run, the matches had a pretty consistent roster of  Goto, Makabe, Shibata, Tanahashi and Captain New Japan on one side against Nakamura, Ishii, Sakuraba, Yano, and YOSHI-HASHI on the other. The one twist on these bouts since the last go around was the shift in titles, and in a sense power, to team NJPW with both Goto and Makabe holding the Intercontinental and Never titles respectively. Captain New Japan's inclusion in the matches added a bit of levity to the mix and also gave an easy out for a fall guy, leading to CHAOS dominating for the most part.

While the other takeaway from this is that this continual booking of the same basic match is wearing its welcome rather thin, it looks to be inching toward a conclusion with each of the feuds contained within getting its own singles match on the extremely impressive looking Dominion card.

More to come with a preview of Dominion and an outlook on how things may very well shape up coming out of that and heading all the way into next January's Tokyo Dome soon.

twitter: @mondocurrymark

Wednesday

Two weeks ago, there was a flurry of excitement over Ring of Honor's television show being broadcast on Destination America, an outlet with far more reach than their already existing home of Sinclair, and already host to rival pro wrestling promotion TNA. Last week, the Ring of Honor did in fact precede TNA's Impact. People watched, tweeted, cheered, moaned, and now things are moving along like it's business as usual.

As someone with a lot of excitement over ROH's arrival on a television station I can actually view, I will make no bones about receiving last week's show with a bit of disappointment. This reaction is tempered, though, by factors that not all may be aware of, but should keep in mind, and overall optimistic for some very good things to come. That is, if the forces behind Ring of Honor gives some careful consideration to how they hope to be perceived and act on them in a hurry,

There was very solid wrestling on the program, kicking off with Kushida taking on Will Ferrara in a match from the final night of the Global Wars series. Once again, I can't resist taking the opportunity to point out how much Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling can benefit from continuing to highlight their connection. Case in point here, it should be made widely known that Kushida just emerged as the winner of NJPW's annual Best Of The Super Jr's tournament built around smaller and extremely agile wrestlers, thus adding a lot of prestige to having such a wrestler appear on their show. While we're at it, lets also note that ROH regular and one half of the tag team reDRagon was the other competitor in the finals against Kushida, an incredible match available to view via NJPW World. The transition sequences and opening credits seemed a bit more spiffed up from what I am used to seeing on ROH's website, made available 1 week after the Sinclair tv airing. There was a throw away match emphasizing Moose's rise in the ranks, which featured something that actually put the segment in the negative column (I'll get into that afterwards), and a tag team match essentially adding to the build to the next PPV main event match between Heavyweight champion Jay Briscoe and Television  champion Jay Lethal. The show was also marked by the inclusion of promos that were a bit more colorful than usual - getting outside the building indeed helps - also banging the drum for the upcoming champion vs champion match and effectively making it out to be a big deal.

The disappointment I had with the program was not over this being a bad show. Rather it was a 'just ok' show. This is fine, but not what you hope to see as a program makes what is in effect a 'debut.' Expectation levels for me and others were very high, though, and sitting back and watching the show broadcast on television, suddenly I found myself realizing the types of things that seem indispensable wrestling program in a prime time television slot: A clearly defined roster. As a casual viewer, I had no qualms about tuning in to see impressive matches between wrestlers from around the indies and ROH regulars. For a program to be followed routinely, I want to know who is an important focus of the show, who will be there from week to week, and what is their place in the scheme of things. Part timers are welcome, but a large degree of continuity is important, and for first time viewers, I would hope for a large number of characters to be established or even just partially introduced through quick vignettes, promo cutting, interviews as well as matches. The show was very thin in this department.

While we did see the Briscoes in actions, whose names have come to be synonymous with Ring of Honor, their opponents lacked character. They are up and comers, and their association with Lethal and the House of Truth roster makes them logical opponents for Jay and Mark. But, this being a debut show for many, vivid personalities on both sides of the main event would make for a stronger... errr, what's the word I'm looking for...im....pression, impression, yeah that's it.

In regard to these stumbling blocks, there are some reasonable defenses to keep in mind. Namely, numerous sources have reported that the deal between ROH and Destination America came together very quickly, and it was an impromptu scheduling of the premiere. Rather than plan a relaunch, Ring of Honor has probably simply taken a show that was already plotted in the course of its run on Sinclair, perhaps already produced even, and dressed it up a tad bit before putting it out on its new cable home. The move may have caught Ring Of Honor by surprise, but they now have a chance to gear up and if they do it quickly, they stand to impress and pull in a much wider audience.

I eluded to another issue I had, one that does not concern the fact that this was its debut. During a match that was supposed to be between the leader of The Decade, BJ Whitmere and Moose, Whitmere dodged his would be opponent and put young boy (wrestle speak for an apprentice who is treated like an indentured servant) Colby Corino, son of veteran wrestler and current commentator Steve Corino, into the unenviable position of facing off against the physically dominant Moose. During what could only be considered a match in the loosest sense of the word,the younger Corino was dismantled with extra physical abuse heaped on, including being repeatedly Power Bombed into the ring apron on the outside of the ring. Anyone seeing this would think TNA was not the only wrestling program on Wednesday night whose repercussions should have included an obituary.

It was peculiar not only in that CC was not collected on a stretcher, but that papa Steve, sitting right there on commentary, showed hardly a bit of concern. One would think at the least he would stand up, hold his head. I would've found it most appropriate if he came running to the scene of the crime to plead with Moose and his associates to call off the attack. How confusing it must've been for a new viewer, accustomed to serial pro wrestling where all or most characters on the scene participate in the story being told.

I feel like this does a huge disservice to the suspension of disbelief while watching pro wresting, and undercuts all of the stories told during match. It's important to keep in mind, although Colby is supposed to be portraying a wrestler in trainer, he does not have a wrestler's build in the slightest. He looks like a typical guy....no, a kid sitting in the audience, and a scrawny one at that. Before this show, I'd seen a similar scenario go down during the second War of the Worlds show in Philadelphia. After interference from Corino during a match between The Decade's Adam Page and Watanabe, the Japanese wrestler hit a German Suplex to the kid on the floor and after the match, floored him with a lariat. Even that seemed like it ought to have incapacitated him. What can come of this is that moves that are supposed to devastating will feel trivial down the line. In both cases, these were spots that were meant to elicit a pop from the audience, but they should be reserved for special occasions and the after-effects should keep with the perpetrator of the attack as well as its victim.    

So, there was some good wrestling but room to improve and some aspects of telling a credible story, at least in terms of the pro wrestling realm, that should be considered as ROH pushes onward. Meanwhile, as far as the potential war between the two brands sharing a cramped home, no shots were fired. At least, not really. Matt Hardy took to his own forum to declare TNA the victor in the eye of public perception. I don't know about that. I think if you searched enough, you could find fans shouting out ROH and some continuing to wave the TNA flag. While I did not watch it, I did hear on the Review-An-Impact podcast hosted by Brothers Nate Milton and Brian Mann, on the LAW Network of combat sport related shows, an account of a largely disappointing show. While not your typical TNApologists, I feel they are fairly easygoing in their assessment of Impact. Hearing them in critical doesn't bode well for the show in my estimation. What they and plenty of others discussed is the once entertaining angle in which part time deranged cult leader James Storm has been cunningly making a play for Magnus' wife Mickey James, being abruptly fast forwarded by an off set depiction of Storm pushing James off a high up ledge onto train tracks...Talk about killing a story. If this kind of overkill is what's to be expected from the competing cable pro wrestling options on Wednesdays, I may be spending my evening with NXT.

Here's hoping Ring of Honor continues to ramp up the action in some areas while showing a bit of restraint, the kind that TNA never manages, in others.

Twitter: @Mondocurrymark

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